“India’s frugal innovation holds lessons for the UK”, says new Nesta report

17/7/12

India’s growing expertise in producing dramatically lower-cost products and services that outperform the alternative and can be delivered at scale offer a model of frugal innovation that the UK can learn from says a new report from Nesta, produced in partnership with Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Research Councils UK and UK-India Education and Research Initiative.

The report, 'Our Frugal Future: Lessons from India's Innovation System', explores the policies, institutions and industries that are driving research and innovation in India. With a new political focus on frugal solutions to chronic social challenges, combined with explosive population growth of an aspirational middle class, a culture of creative improvisation, expertise in business model innovation, and new sources of social finance, India is an increasingly fertile environment for frugal innovation.

For developed economies, frugal innovation is an approach whose time has come. In a climate of lacklustre growth, public austerity, environmental pressures, and competition from emerging markets, frugal innovation should not be overlooked as a route to innovation success in the UK. The report calls for frugal innovation to become a strategic focus for collaboration between the two countries: including more ambitious partnerships in sustainable energy, the use of challenge prizes to stimulate new innovation collaborations and stronger links in higher education.

With examples including Dr Devi Shetty's path-breaking model of cardiac care in Bangalore: delivering heart surgery for £1300 compared to a cost of around £11,000 to the NHS, the report draws on over 130 interviews with policy makers, entrepreneurs and scientists across six Indian cities, combined with newly commissioned data and infographics which map the geography of research excellence in detail across the country for the first time, uncovering rising stars and expanding clusters.

Providing a rich new data resource, the report reveals that in 2011 India produced over twice as many scientific publications as in 2001, despite investment in R&D remaining at less than one per cent of GDP. India now has significant pockets of world-class excellence in physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, space and civil nuclear research.  However, this amounts to only 3.5% of total world research, and much is still below average quality.

The report cautions against relying on traditional innovation metrics to judge India's innovation performance, since they fail to capture its distinctive strengths and potential. They may show the surprising efficiency of the system - comparatively per dollar spent on R&D, India produces more patents than China and more research publications than the USA - but they miss India's emerging specialism in frugal innovation.

Kirsten Bound, report co-author and lead policy advisor at Nesta, says, "India has distinct advantages in frugal innovation. But it's a model that can be applied anywhere. Whether it's about providing heart surgery at a fraction of the cost, or building cheap, green 21st century transport systems, frugal approaches are as relevant in Birmingham and Manchester as in Bangalore and Mumbai.'

 "The UK increasingly needs to understand and engage with fast growing economies such as India, not only as markets for UK innovation, but also as a source of inspiration."

Commenting on the report, Mark Sinclair, first secretary in the British High Commission in Delhi says: "Partnerships for innovation have huge potential benefits for both the UK and India. This report will greatly assist in prioritising collaborations in this regard. In particular, the information on emerging hotspots will guide the UK Science and Innovation Network in supporting collaborations between the UK and India. We keenly await the engaging and interesting debates this report will spark about how to enhance the UK-India partnership."

-Ends-

Notes to editor

Defining frugal innovation
The report defines frugal innovation as distinctive in its means and its ends. Frugal innovation responds to limitations in resources, whether financial, material or institutional, and using a range of methods, turns these constraints into an advantage. Through minimising the use of resources in development, production and delivery, or by leveraging them in new ways, frugal innovation results in dramatically lower-cost products and services. The report shows examples of frugal innovation are found throughout the Indian system: from the efforts to crowdsource drug discovery driven by government labs, to Bharti Airtel's approach to cutting the cost of mobile phone calls, to the Keralan approach to palliative care which is providing access to support at the end of life for thousands in a void of formal healthcare. 

Next steps

Nesta and partners will be launching the report with exciting special guests at an event in London in September. If you are interested in participating please email India@nesta.org.uk

For further information please contact Sarah Reardon on 020 7438 2606 / sarah.reardon@nesta.org.uk or Guy Bilgorri on 020 7438 2611 / guy.bilgorri@nesta.org.uk

About Nesta

Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills.

We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery.

Nesta Operating Company is a registered charity in England and Wales with a company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE

www.nesta.org.uk